February IS, ISCC. 1 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



127 



the sort delicate in constitution, and only fit to grow as a 

 luxury. For the last seven or eight years a mars-ellous change 

 has come over this sort. Its habit is more robust, and it has 

 resisted disease so as always to retain its flavour. 



I now come to the year I8B0 and its Potato vagaries. In 

 the month of February I planted on a rough hotbed, made of 

 manure, leaves, and refuse, my usual crop of Ashleafs of 

 two or three kinds — the Old, Myatt's. and the Royal. The 

 bed was U feet wide and 60 feet long. On the 20th of May I 

 commenced digging new Potatoes, and my supply lasted till 

 the end of .Jime, the quality of aU excellent. Ashleafs in the 

 open borders were then commenced and found to be equally 

 good, the Royal producing largely. This state of things lasted 

 till the beginning of August, when heavy rain commenced, and 

 with it the disease, which in a day or two reduced the bines to 

 sere dry stallss, but leaving the tubers to appearance entirely 

 fi'ee from disease. To our surjirise we found our favourite 

 Ashleafs from a piece of Ught soil had lost their flavour. We 

 tried them from loam, from clay, from peaty soil near the 

 river — they were all alike flavourless, or at least they had only 

 the peculiar insipid taste of the Fluke Kidney. V/e endured 

 this with patience, for on trying the Racehorse, the Imperial 

 Kidney, the Prince of "Wales, alias " Boon to Mankind " (which 

 said " Boon " was very rotten, and the few saved very imeat- 

 able), Moua's Pride, almost tmeatable (how can any grower 

 compare this to the Ashleafs ? It i^ not earlier than the old 

 sort, and never has any flavour), the Lemon Kidney, and the 

 Silver-skin Kidney, some of which were sound-looking, all were 

 iound flavourless and uneatable. "R'hat a ridiculous illustra- 

 tion of the folly of giving prizes for uncooked Potatoes ! Terily 

 it is something like " testimoni.als " to new early Peas, many of 

 ■which are not only alike, but very old sorts with very new names. 

 These matters are not creditable to the age; they lower the 

 status of tradesmen, and make people hold up the finger of 

 scorn. 



Driven from our Ashleafs, which we have generally depended 

 npon tUl late in October, we turned to our winter favottrite 

 the Lapstone about the middle of September. Ou digging 

 them itp the crop was found good, the tubers remarkably sound 

 and handsome, and we thought we were safe for the winter. 

 After our cook's ttsual mode — the only way to cook Potatoes — 

 the Lapstones were steamed in one of Barlow's steamers, and 

 brought to table. To oiu' surprise they looked glum and sullen 

 — not a jacket unbuttoned as usual, and to our still greater 

 surprise 'we found them close and almost flavoitrless. We 

 endured this during the whole of October and nearly all through 

 November, when, as a dernier rcssort, I ordered them to be 

 peeled, boiled, salted, and dry-clothed. This has brought on a 

 change for the better ; but their deliciotis flavour is gone — they 

 are Flukish, and only fit for London dining-rooms. 



Not quite satisfied with the state of otn- Potato affairs, I 

 thought of my spring favourite — I must explain that my three 

 sorts have hitherto been Ashleafs and a few Ten-weeks for 

 spring and summer, Lapstones for late autumn and winter, 

 and the King for March and April ; so anticipating and hoping 

 to find "all right," I ordered a dish of Kings to be steamed 

 in " EiUy Barlow," as some jesters stigmatise the immortal 

 steamer, on Tuesday last, .January 30. They came, but they 

 did not conquer, for their jackets were closely bttttoned ; others 

 looked like a dj-speptic an hour after being tempted into taking 

 a glass of fine old port — isn't the feeling horrible? Well, our 

 Kings turned out mucli worse than our Lapstones. They were 

 close, ill-flavoured, and indeed uneatable ; so much so that, 

 depending upon a gi-eat treat — I delight in a good Potato — no 

 other sort was cooked, and I was compelled to dine on half 

 a King, and not a savoui-y one, as he of the Cannibal Isles 

 might have been. As a forlorn hope I have to-day (Feb. 2), had 

 some Pink Fluke, or Queen of Flukes, steamed in their jackets. 

 Like the three sorts above named, they are close and ill- 

 flavoured. I quite hoped to find the King and Queen of their 

 usual good quahty. 



It is curious to note these abnormal features in Potatoes of 

 -the growth of 18G.5. I am not aware, and have not heard, of 

 their quality in other places from good observers. The round 

 sorts are, I beUeve, as usual dry and floury, but they are not 

 usually placed on the table:! of those who do things well. 



Potatoes were green and flourishing here (Herts), tiU August 

 the lith, 185.5, when, after heavy rains, on or about that 

 ■time, the bines died oil suddenly, emitting before doing so 

 that peculiarly offensive smell indicative of the disease. The 

 ■tubers of some kinds, however, were full grown, and did not 

 sitffer in appearance. The crop of Lapstones and Royal Ash- 



leafs was particularly abundant and sound, but their fine flavotir 

 was gone. The sorts of Kidney Potatoes that suffered most 

 here have been Mona's Pride, nearly all rotten ; the " Boon," 

 alias Prince of Wales, the Imperial Kidney, the Silver-skin, 

 and the Lemon ; most of these were masses of rottenness. The 

 King and the Pink, or Queen of Flukes, resisted the disease 

 to a grjat extent, for their tops were green a month after the 

 others were brown and dried up, but their tubers are, as I 

 have above stated, not of their usual quality. I was struck 

 last spring ■with one kind of early Kidney Potato which I had 

 thought so delicate and shy in bearing as not to be worthy of 

 ctiltivation. From some pecuUarity in the weather this sort came 

 up well, grew well, and bore a good crop, proving the earliest of 

 all except the Ten-week. It is known as Hudson's Early May. 

 I have thought it worth while to give this history of 

 Kidney Potato culture here in 181)5, because it will, I think, 

 snow that in some seasons and in some soils Potatoes vary in 

 quality to an extent almost beyond credibihty. As to the 

 reason why fine full-grown tubers should lose theu' flavour 

 because their tops died oft' a week or two before their usual 

 period, and after the roots were fuU-gi-own and nearly ripe, it 

 is a question for the physiologist. — Fokwaeds. 



SEEDLING GRAPES SrOETIVE. 



In- an interesting article by Mr. T. M. Lindsay at page 502 



of the last Volume, he remarks that he is somewhat sceptical 



about the crossing of Grapes, and says, " I believe that the 



majority of Grapes sent out of late years as cross-bred varieties 



are in reality no crosses at all, but simply sports from 



seed." I will grant that this opinion is true in some cases, 



for the Editors, in commenting on Mr. Lindsay's illustrations, 



remark that these " furnish another proof that in the vege- 



1 table as in the animal kingdom, when a fixed form has once 



I been broken in upon, there is no end to the vagaries that 



1 follow." I have been fertilising Grapes, and rearing seedlings 



fi-om these, for the last twelve years, but I never thought of 



taking the trouble to sow seeds, unless fertilisation had been 



carefuDy practised with a view to effecting improvement in the 



quality, productiveness, habit, &c. ; nevertheless, I consider 



the experiments made by Mr. Lindsay in sowing the seeds of 



the Black Hamburgh Grape, withottt crossing, very interesting 



and instructive, partictJarly to those who have been in the 



habit of growing Grapes from seed. 



I do not now intend to give an account of my successes 

 and failures, I wish only to mention the pecuharity of 

 light Grapes being produced from seed taken from a black 

 parent, and that, according to what has been stated by 

 eminent growers, even without cross-fertilisation. I am con- 

 vinced, however, that the colottr is sportive, for I have this 

 year obtained a true white variety in every respect from that 

 new and superior black Grape the Muscat Hamburgh ; and what 

 is still more confirmatory of this ■view is, that in the present 

 instance the female parent, or Muscat Hamburgh, was most 

 carefully crossed with my own new Champion Black Ham- 

 burgh, no doubt there was white blood in the male parent, it 

 having an infusion of the Canon Hall (white) in it. 



I believe that it w,ll be fresh in the memory of all the 

 readers of this Journal that Mr. W. Thomson, of Dalkeith 

 Park, raised a white Hamburgh Grape from the Black. The 

 same is now, I think, named the Champion Golden Hamburgh. 

 Mr. Lindsay's experience also fully proves that the common 

 Hamburgh, at all events, is very apt to produce white seedlings. 

 It remains to be proved if other varieties will do the same. 



Assuming the foregoing to be correct, particularly as regards 

 Grapes with which cross-fertilisation has not been resorted to, 

 are we to obtain new Grapes improved in their properties, more 

 particularly in respect to flavour and size, without recourse to 

 artificial fertilisation ? From what experience I have had, I 

 would decidedly answer. No. I do not deny that solitary in- 

 stances may occur of an improved Grape being produced by 

 chance ; but from what I have proved, even with careful 

 crossing, success is not always attained. — William Melville, 

 Dalmemj Park Gardens. 



MiLB^sESS OF THE Seasok. — The mild month of January 

 has had such an unusual effect uiion vegetation here, at 

 Hawlchurst in Kent, that an account of the plants in bloom 

 out of doors may not be uninteresting to your readers. On 

 the 7th of Januai-y a Lord Suiiield Apple .tree presented us 



